Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco spent two days in South Korea earlier this week discussing a broad range of topics with, among others, his Korean counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Hyun. (SRE)
Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez paid a two-day visit to South Korea from Sunday to Tuesday to boost investment in Mexico, expand cultural exchange and foster cooperation in sectors such as technology and education.
During his visit, Velasco met with his Republic of Korea counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Hyun, to review the guidelines presented in the Mexico-Korea Action Plan 2026-2030.
Velasco also took time to meet with executives from major Korean companies that operate in Mexico, such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG. (SRE)
Hyun and Velasco discussed the potential establishment of a Korean cultural center in Mexico and a possible Mexico-Korea scholarship program, according to a statement released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE). The two ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to continue collaborating as members of MIKTA (a partnership among Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia) and in forums such as APEC, the G20 and the United Nations.
The Mexico-Korea Action Plan is expected to be signed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during his upcoming visit to Mexico, marking the first time a Korean president will visit Mexico in a decade.
South Korea is Mexico’s fifth-largest trading partner, with trade between the two countries totaling $29.7 billion in 2025.
Velasco also met with the Vice President for Foreign Affairs at the Center for Science Diplomacy of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), So Young Kim, and the Office of International Development Director Han Seung Hun to discuss the advancement of a joint initiative with KAIST to create educational programs specializing in engineering, technological development, and semiconductors.
In the business sector, Velasco held a meeting with executives from leading Korean companies operating in Mexico, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, Posco, Hana Financial Group, HL Mando and LG. The minister also toured LG’s offices and Science Park.
Velasco met with Samsung E&A President and CEO Namkoong Hong on Tuesday to discuss various strategic projects underway in Mexico, particularly in the energy sector, according to official SRE reports.
“Mexico and Korea have identified innovation, artificial intelligence, digital governance and the aerospace sector as priority areas, where the opportunity lies not simply in exchanging knowledge, but in creating it together,” Velasco said.
During his visit, Velasco also met with the leadership team at the Mexican Embassy in Korea to review the services the embassy provides to Mexican citizens.
Following his visit to South Korea, Velasco traveled to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss priority issues on the bilateral agenda.
Mexico's 1.4% growth in this year's second quarter after a first-quarter contraction represented its strongest expansion since early 2022, enough to put it at No.6 in growth among OECD countries. (Presidencia / Cuartoscuro.com)
Mexico’s economy grew three times faster than the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average in the second quarter of the year, making it the sixth fastest-growing OECD economy, according to preliminary figures published Monday by the 38-member group of mostly high-income democracies.
The Mexican economy grew by 1.4% from April to June, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), much higher than the OECD average of 0.5%, which itself had risen slightly from its 0.4% rate in the first quarter.
Primary activities, such as farming, led the second-quarter expansion that lifted Mexico into the OECD’s top 10 second-quarter growth economies. (Meg Pier / Unsplash)
In the second quarter, 27 OECD member states recorded growth rates, with Ireland’s being the highest at 3.9%, followed by Israel at 3.6%. Switzerland, Slovenia, Lithuania and Mexico followed, while Austria, Belgium and Chile reported no change in their GDP.
Several members of the G7 —a smaller group of the world’s most advanced industrial nations — experienced a slowdown in the second quarter, including Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. GDP growth in the G7 fell to 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2026, compared to 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, the OECD reported.
The OECD cited weak export growth, a decline in the livestock industry, and a decrease in retail consumption as the primary causes of the second-quarter economic slowdown in the United States.
Mexico’s economy, on the other hand, improved in the second quarter compared to the first, rebounding from a revised 0.3% contraction in the first quarter, according to INEGI, as the country posted its strongest expansion since early 2022.
However, the 1.4% second-quarter growth was slightly below INEGI’s preliminary estimate of 1.5% published in July.
Primary activities, such as farming, fishing and mining, led Mexico’s economic growth, posting an expansion of 2.4%.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s main regional competitor, Brazil, saw economic growth of just 0.2% in the second quarter compared with the previous three-month period, the country’s central bank reported in August.
In annual terms, Mexico’s economy expanded 2.1% in the second quarter, according to INEGI.
However, inflation remains a threat, with Mexico’s 12-month inflation rate reaching 3.26% in early August, up from 3.1% a month earlier.
While the inflation figure is within the Bank of Mexico’s target range of 3%, give or take one percentage point, persistent inflation alongside signs of economic improvement could lead to a rate hike, despite the bank’s recent caution.
The temporary closure of the Las Dunas mega-project work site on the dunes of the Yucatán coast near Progreso is the third high-profile reversal of a beach development this year. (dunas.mx)
A federal judge has allowed a legal challenge seeking to stop construction of a 14-tower tourist complex in Yucatán’s coastal dunes — the latest in a string of environmentally contentious beach developments halted or rejected under the Sheinbaum administration.
The project, known as Las Dunas, is in Chuburná Puerto, a fishing village on the Gulf coast of Yucatán where remaining dunes, mangroves and wetlands buffer an erosion-prone shoreline. The community is about 15 kilometers west of Progreso, a port city and beach town.
The temporary closure of the worksite, announced Aug. 2 by Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), follows two other high-profile coastal reversals earlier this year.
Now, legal action filed by Salvemos Las Dunas (Save the Dunes) and Chuburná Puerto residents seeks a court-ordered suspension of the Las Dunas project while authorities review alleged environmental violations.
State officials said 58,740 square meters of the property — including coastal wetland and federal maritime-terrestrial land — must remain conserved and unoccupied.
They stressed that a state urban-environmental feasibility assessment is not a construction permit; Semarnat holds federal authority over the environmental-impact authorization.
In ordering the total temporary closure, Profepa said its inspectors found clearing and sand movement over 1.3 hectares, or 31% of the authorized land-use-change area, that had damaged protected flora and breached environmental and forestry authorizations. Protected species were present on about half the cleared area, authorities said.
The newspaper La Jornada reported that activists have warned that Las Dunas could threaten protected species including the Mexican sheartail hummingbird and Yucatán wren.
“The dunes represent our identity as Maya people because they have been passed down from generation to generation as a source of sustenance for many families,” Chuburná resident Karen Sosa told the newspaper El País.
The Las Dunas development is represented by Auralux Representaciones and identified by El País as a Designia Desarrollos project. The project would include 138 apartments in 14 towers on roughly 92,000 square meters.
Taken together, the actions on Las Dunas and other projects point to a more visible federal willingness to intervene in contested coastal tourism developments. They do not, however, amount to a formally announced national policy.
The new Olinia Carga will offer innovative solutions for small business owners, per project engineers ... provided their goals are exceedingly modest. (This image was generated using AI tools).
MEXICO CITY — In a landmark moment for national industrial policy, the federal government officially unveiled the prototype for the Olinia Carga, a Mexican-designed electric vehicle (EV) specifically engineered to move three extremely small items across distances best measured in paces.
The vehicle, which was presented in the courtyard of the National Palace, represents the next evolutionary leap in the administration’s “mini-electromobility” initiative. Designed with total pragmatic clarity, the low-cost pickup aims to revolutionize the micro-logistics sector by transporting light burdens that would otherwise require two moderately assertive people or a very sturdy wheelbarrow.
Perfect for delivering flowers or wheels of cheese across several city blocks, the Olinia Carga has been hailed as a breakthrough for Mexico’s EV sector. (This image was generated using AI tools)
“To design this vehicle, we looked directly at how cargo is actually moved in our towns,” said project director Roberto Capuano, gesturing toward a bed meticulously arranged with three wooden crates of marigolds. “What we saw was a market crying out for something that sits precisely between a heavy-duty motorcycle and walking briskly while holding a box.”
According to official technical specifications, the Olinia Carga features a maximum range of 120 kilometers and can carry up to 650 kilograms, provided the weight is distributed with mathematical perfection and the wind is blowing from behind. A key selling point is the “low trunk” — an empty cavern under the bed made possible by the absence of a traditional engine — which officials noted is ideal for storing folding tables, two spare umbrellas, or a single, carefully folded tarp.
Project engineers confirmed that while the vehicle is capable of reaching a top speed appropriate for a residential alleyway, its primary design achievement is its ability to sit idling outside a neighborhood tiendita without consuming a single drop of gasoline.
“In Mexico, we are proving that we can engineer solutions tailored directly to our exact, hyper-local needs,” Capuano added, noting that a public tender will soon be opened to find strategic manufacturing partners willing to build a vehicle whose primary market advantage is that it fits in spaces where real trucks are strictly forbidden. “We are not just building an electric car; we are building an electric car that can comfortably navigate a Wednesday tianguis without disturbing the fruit stalls.”
The Olinia Carga is expected to go on sale in late 2027 for approximately 150,000 pesos, at which point government officials remain confident it will completely dominate the highly competitive niche of delivering fresh cheese across single city blocks.
An operation was carried out at various locations in Mexicali, with security forces on the scene and even helicopters flying overhead near the State Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday, following an alert issued by the United States. (Juan Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
The U.S. government issued a security alert late Monday due to a potential “August 25 threat in Mexicali,” but no major security incidents were reported in the northern border city on Tuesday.
The U.S. Mission to Mexico issued the alert, announcing that due to “threat information,” U.S. government activities in, and travel to, Mexicali had been suspended for Aug. 25.
The diplomatic mission advised U.S. citizens to “avoid government buildings in Mexicali” on Tuesday and “seek shelter in the event of an incident.” It didn’t specify the nature of the potential threat.
On Tuesday morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the U.S. security alert was issued due to the possibility that a criminal group could pose a danger in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California. The criminal group was identified as “Los Rusos,” which is affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican authorities recently seized a large quantity of fentanyl from a property in Mexicali linked to “Los Rusos,” leading to fears that the criminal group could carry out a retaliatory attack in the city. Journalist Luis Chaparro said in a social media post on Tuesday that he obtained information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego that confirmed that the security alert was issued after that agency intercepted “at least one call” in which members of “Los Rusos” spoke of plans to attack buildings in Mexicali occupied by municipal police and the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
No such attacks eventuated on Tuesday, and no major security incidents occurred in Mexicali, located opposite the city of Calexico, California. A Mexico News Daily reader who lives in Mexicali commented on an MND article that the city wasn’t “shut down or impacted in any way” after the U.S. security alert was issued. He wrote that his experience in Mexicali on Tuesday was “business as usual.”
Authorities did bolster security in the city in light of the U.S alert, which was acknowledged and endorsed by the government of Canada. That included increasing surveillance of public buildings and “strategic points” of the Baja California capital, the newspaper Milenio reported. The Baja California-based news outlet En Contraste News reported that there were fewer visitors than normal to public buildings in Mexicali on Tuesday. It also noted that state and federal judicial authorities suspended activities. The border between Mexicali and Calexico remained open.
US Northern Command ‘applauds’ Mexico’s success against ‘Los Rusos’
In a social media post on Tuesday, the U.S. Northern Command, one of 11 “unified combatant commands” of the U.S. Department of Defense, wrote:
“USNORTHCOM applauds the Government of Mexico’s success against ‘Los Rusos.’ Mexico’s whole-of-government commitment to countering cartels is reducing illicit trafficking at the Southern Border. #USNORTHCOM, through @JIATFCC [Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel], continues to identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
USNORTHCOM applauds the Government of Mexico’s success against “Los Rusos.” Mexico’s whole-of-government commitment to countering cartels is reducing illicit trafficking at the Southern Border. #USNORTHCOM, through @JIATFCC, continues to identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel… https://t.co/dPLwClDtRTpic.twitter.com/wjsYD4DaQ1
Included in the same post was Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch’s Aug. 20 post to X in which he announced a fentanyl bust — the very bust that U.S. authorities reportedly suspected could lead to a retaliatory attack by “Los Rusos,” a group said to be linked to the “Los Mayos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
In his post, García Harfuch wrote:
“Derived from the exchange of information with @DEAHQ and from intelligence and investigative work by Mexican authorities in Mexicali, Baja California, … [federal security forces] and state authorities carried out an operational action at a property linked to the criminal group known as ‘Los Rusos.’ During the operation, 120 kilos of fentanyl pills, equivalent to more than 4 million doses, a firearm and vehicles were seized. International cooperation, accompanied by the investigation and operational capacity of Mexican institutions, allows information to be translated into concrete results against criminal organizations and their logistical structures.”
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson shared García Harfuch’s post to his X account last Thursday.
Above the security minister’s post, Johnson wrote: “Information shared becomes action taken. More than 4 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl kept off our streets and away from our families. This is what results-driven cooperation looks like: sharing information, acting on it, and putting real pressure on the cartels. That’s the partnership @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and President @ClaudiaShein are driving.”
According to President Sheinbaum, the objective is “to strengthen the capacities of the Mexican state to protect, care for, conserve and restore the environment and natural resources.” (Saúl López/Presidencia)
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) presented an initiative today to reform the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA), which is Mexico’s main environmental legal framework.
The proposal, spearheaded by Minister Alicia Bárcena, aims to update a regulation created in 1988 in response to new challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, pressure on water resources and conflicts arising from infrastructure, industry and urban development projects.
As Minister Alicia Bárcena mentioned on Wednesday, Mexico’s environmental protection law has not been updated since 1988. (Saúl López/Presidencia)
Presented at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference, the bill includes 10 policy principles that seek to prevent and repair ecological damage, protect communities and make economic development compatible with environmental justice and nature conservation.
According to Sheinbaum, the objective is “to strengthen the capacities of the Mexican state to protect, care for, conserve and restore the environment and natural resources.”
What are the new principles?
With environmental justice as the bill’s central focus, Semarnat aims to deepen the link between the protection of ecosystems and natural resources with social well-being, citizen participation and respect for the rights of Mexico’s Indigenous, Afro-Mexican, rural and urban communities.
It also proposes that authorities, in collaboration with private companies, assess the possible ecological consequences of works and productive activities further in advance (currently, a company can request an Environmental Impact Assessment (MIA) at any time prior to the onset of construction), and assume partial responsibility if and when the work causes eventual deterioration.
Bárcena explained that the reform takes a “proactive” approach by requiring developers of large-scale projects to carry out a strategic environmental assessment over a longer time frame and prohibiting them from fragmenting projects to avoid a comprehensive assessment of their regional impact.
The bill incorporates new tools to address current environmental challenges, including an ecological restoration program, new mechanisms to address climate change and provisions to strengthen the prevention, repair and remediation of environmental damage.
The plan also includes promoting ecological restoration programs, focusing on rivers, mangroves, coastlines, forest ecosystems and other degraded areas.
An oil spill along the western Gulf coast in February of this year prompted a massive community response both to clean it up and prevent similar environmental injustices from occurring in the future. (Greenpeace/Cuartoscuro)
Bárcena said that the enhanced protection of native species will be paramount, including the Mexican wolf, the condor, the blue whale and dolphins.
Moreover, the law proposes a specific chapter dedicated to those who defend the environment and public goods, incorporating a new platform for “payment for environmental services” (PSA) and facilitating compensation for communities that protect their natural resources.
Bárcena added that the bill incorporates scientific advances, innovation and new technologies, as well as the recognition of the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous peoples as tools for the protection of biodiversity.
“We cannot do science without recognizing the wisdom of our Indigenous peoples,” Bárcena said.
Overall, the bill proposes that economic development must honor nature’s limits while promoting shared well-being.
In June 2026 — our fourth focus month — the MND Economy Index™ scored 66.9. (Mexico News Daily)
THE MND ECONOMY INDEX™
Providing broad insight into the Mexican economy
MND Intelligence · Fourth edition
Welcome to the fourth edition of the MND Economy Index™, part of the MND Intelligence™ suite of data products from Mexico News Daily.
The MND Economy Index™ is a 10-pillar, 19-indicator composite index that compiles a broad range of economic data into a single score between 0 and 100, giving Mexico News Daily readers a clear, accessible picture of how the Mexican economy is performing across multiple dimensions.
(Mexico News Daily)
In the inaugural MND Economy Index™ article, published in late May, we not only analyzed the index score — 63.4 out of 100 — but also explained what the index is, why we developed it and how it works. Click here to read (or re-read) those explanations.
In this August edition of the MND Economy Index™ — which uses economic data primarily from the month of June — the index score is 66.9, a decrease of 1.7 points compared to the previous score.
The score for June is above the neutral benchmark of 60, but there is still significant room for improvement.
Before we look more closely at the latest index result, and the index trend in the first half of 2026, here is a short guide to what the overall index score means.
85–100: Exceptional — the economy performing at a high level across nearly all indicators.
75–84: Strong — broad-based performance with only minor areas of concern.
60–74: Above neutral — meaningful strengths, but with notable room for improvement.
50–59: Mixed — passing marks overall, more indicators above benchmark than below.
Below 50: Broad underperformance — more indicators below benchmark than above.
The MND Economy Index™ trend between February and June
The first two MND Economy Index™ scores we calculated for 2026 — both corresponding to the first quarter of the year — were very similar.
The first index score we calculated for 2026 was 63.7, a number derived mainly from economic data for the month of February. The index score declined slightly to 63.4 based on a calculation using data that was primarily for the month of March.
(Mexico News Daily)
While there was little variation in the index score across those two editions, there were some significant changes in individual pillar scores, including the inflation one and the sovereign risk one (see more details here).
In April, we saw the first significant movement of the year in the overall MND Economy Index™ score. In the space of a month, the score rose 4.16 points to 67.55, a clear indication that the Mexican economy was gaining strength. What was particularly encouraging was that the biggest contributor to the increase was the economic growth pillar, as the Mexican economy expanded 2.2% in April compared to just 0.5% in May.
While economic growth moderated to 2% in May, there were encouraging signs in other data related to the Mexican economy for that month, allowing the MND Economy Index™ score to increase for a second consecutive month to reach 68.6.
In June, the MND Economy Index™ declined for the first time since March. Among the reasons why the index score fell in June compared to May were lower annual economic growth and a year-over-year contraction in manufacturing output.
The August edition of the MND Economy Index™ (based mainly on June data)
As noted above, the MND Economy Index™ score for this August edition — based mainly on data for June 2026 — is 66.9, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points compared to the previous score. Below you will see the score for each of the ten pillars that make up the index, expressed out of 10 to reflect each pillar’s exact contribution to the final composite score.
Pillars are color-coded using a traffic light system: green (a score above 7.5) indicates strong performance; yellow (5.0–7.5) signals decent performance but with room for improvement; and red (below 5.0) flags a pillar that is falling short of its benchmark. Where a pillar score has improved compared to the previous month, an upward arrow appears alongside its corresponding traffic light; a downward arrow indicates deterioration; and a pause symbol denotes no change.
(Mexico News Daily)
As you’ll see below, scores for five of the ten MND Economy Index™ pillars decreased in June compared to the previous month. Scores for four pillars increased while one stayed the same.
🟢 ⬇️ MONETARY POLICY (9.57):
The score for this pillar declined to 9.57 in June from 9.86 in May. The Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate remained at 6.50% in June after a 25-basis-point cut to that level took effect on May 8. Therefore, there was no change in the interest rate component of the pillar score.
The deterioration in the pillar score was due to an increase in Mexico’s real interest rate in June — i.e., the Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate minus the annual headline inflation rate. The real interest rate in June was 3.13%, a reading 0.43 points above the 2.7% neutral midpoint. The real interest rate in May, at 2.56%, was closer to the neutral midpoint than the reading in June.
Despite the decline in the monetary policy score, this pillar remained the index’s top performer in June 2026.
🟢 ⬆️ INFLATION (9.33):
The score for this pillar increased to 9.33 in June from 9.06 in May.
Inflation eased to 3.37% in June from 3.94% in May, causing an increase in the score for the current inflation component of the pillar.
The score for the pillar component that considers the 12-month forward inflation forecast declined as the Bank of Mexico now anticipates an annual rate of 3.3% in the second quarter of 2027, which, of course, includes the month of June. The central bank previously predicted an inflation rate of 3% in the second quarter of next year.
The increase in the inflation component score was greater than the decrease in the inflation forecast score, allowing the overall pillar score to rise.
The inflation pillar score is poised to improve again in the next edition of the MND Economy Index™ as inflation fell again in July, settling at 3.12%. In addition, the Bank of Mexico is currently forecasting an annual inflation rate of 3.2% in the third quarter of 2027. Therefore, the score for that component of the pillar should increase slightly in our next index.
🟡 ⬇️ SOVEREIGN RISK (7.43)
The score for this pillar was 7.43 in June, down slightly from 7.45 in May.
The score for the sovereign credit ratings component of the pillar remained unchanged in June, as there were no month-over-month changes to the Mexico ratings of Moodys (Baa3/stable); S&P (BBB/negative); and Fitch (BBB-/stable).
The slight decline in the overall pillar score was due to a modest widening in Mexico’s 5-year credit default swap spread. The credit default swap spread was 86.87 basis points at the end of June, up from 86.03 basis points at the end of May. The increase reflected a slight rise in the market-implied cost of insuring against a Mexican sovereign default.
🟡 ⬇️ MANUFACTURING SECTOR HEALTH (6.9)
The score for this pillar declined in June, falling to 6.9 from 7.48 in May.
The exports component of the pillar remained at the maximum score due to a 34.4% annual increase in export revenue in June, well above the 16.7% threshold needed for a perfect ten. Official data shows that 91.3% of Mexico’s export revenue between January and June came from the shipment abroad of manufactured goods.
The score for this pillar rose to 6.8 in June from 6.77 in May.
The standard deviation of daily exchange rate movements increased to 0.49% in June from 0.42% in May, leading to a slight decrease in the score for that component of the pillar.
The increase in the pillar score in June was due to a higher spot rate score. The score for that component increased because the peso weakened against the US dollar in June to trade at 17.50 to the greenback at the end of the month, a depreciation of 0.7% compared to the end of April.
The exchange rate was thus closer to the index’s 19.00 USD:MXN baseline, which is based on the 2025 average rate. This pillar penalizes significant deviation from the 19.00 USD:MXN baseline in either direction, recognizing that a peso that has strengthened too far from this benchmark can erode export competitiveness and reduce the purchasing power of remittances, just as a weakening peso raises import costs.
🟡 ⬇️ INVESTMENT CLIMATE (6.56)
The score for this pillar fell to 6.56 in June from 8.25 in May.
In part, the decline was due to lower — but still strong — annual growth on the S&P/BMV FIBRAS Total Return Index, which tracks the performance of Mexico’s listed real estate investment trusts. The index grew 27.1% annually to the end of June.
Thus, the score for the remittances component of the pillar increased. However, the 4.2% annual growth rate is still well below the 16.67% increase required for a perfect score.
The score for this pillar increased to 6.21 in June from 6.02 in May. Scores for two of the three pillar components increased, allowing the overall score to edge up.
In June, there was a 2% annual increase in the number of people in formal sector jobs, up from a 1.5% increase in May. Therefore, there was an increase in the score for that component of the pillar.
Nominal wages rose 6.4% year-on-year in June — down slightly from 6.6% in May, but still well above the 3.5% benchmark.
Year-over-year growth in Mexico’s informality rate was only 0.2 percentage points in May, down from an annual increase of 0.3 points in May. In June, 55% of all Mexican workers worked in the informal economy. Lowering that rate is a major challenge for the Mexican government.
🔴 ⬇️ ECONOMIC GROWTH (4.4)
The score for this pillar fell to 4.4 in June from 5 in May.
The decrease was due to a lower annual economic growth rate in June. The annual growth rate in June was 1.7%, according to final data published by INEGI this week, whereas the rate in May was slightly higher at 2%.
While Economic Growth remains one of the index’s worst-performing pillars, the performance of the Mexican economy did improve in the second quarter of 2026 compared to the first quarter. INEGI reported this week that the economy grew 1.4% on a quarter-over-quarter basis between April and June, while the annual expansion was 1.9%. The economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous two months, while annual growth was just 0.4% in that period.
🔴 ⏸️ PRODUCTIVITY (3.2):
The score for this pillar remained at 3.2 in May after plummeting to that level in April from an already low 4.8 in March.
Data published by the national statistics agency INEGI in June showed that the IGPLE — INEGI’s quarterly productivity measure — increased only 0.1% annually in the first quarter of 2026. That level of productivity growth was significantly weaker than the 0.9% reading in the final quarter of 2025.
An annual productivity growth rate of 0.1% is well below the 1.0% neutral benchmark, and thus, the score for this pillar is very low.
INEGI will publish productivity data for the second quarter of 2026 in early September. We will use that data for the next edition of the MND Economy Index™.
Increasing FDI flows was one of the data points employed by Sheinbaum on Wednesday to back up the strength of Mexico's economy. (Saúl López/Presidencia)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
📈 Sheinbaum touts “good economic news”: At her Wednesday presser, the president highlighted record foreign direct investment in the first half of 2026 (US $34.96 billion), record employment of 60 million people, 1.4% quarterly GDP growth and a “strong, solid” peso, while blaming past governments for suppressing wages.
🌎 G20 Summit decision still pending: Sheinbaum said she was invited to the December G20 Summit at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami and believes she “should” attend, but will confirm her attendance closer to the date. A bilateral meeting with Trump isn’t expected until a trade agreement is reached.
☎️ 21 calls with Trump: Sheinbaum noted she’s spoken with Trump by phone 21 times and met him twice in person, at the World Cup draw in Washington and the final in New Jersey.
📵 No treason charge, but no green light either: Asked about Mexican officials collaborating with U.S. authorities on criminal probes for personal benefit, Sheinbaum said she disagrees with the practice, noting Mexico has its own institutions for that. Whether such cooperation counts as treason “depends on the circumstances,” she said.
Why today’s mañanera matters
At her Wednesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum took the opportunity to speak about what she described as “the strength” of Mexico’s economy. Sheinbaum focused on the positives, although there are various weaknesses in the economy, including anemic productivity growth and high labor informality.
Also of note at today’s mañanera was the president’s suggestion that she will travel to the United States later this year to attend the annual G20 Summit. Sheinbaum attended the 2024 G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, shortly after she was sworn in as president, but didn’t travel to South Africa for last year’s event.
While it appears likely that Sheinbaum will meet U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders at the G20 Summit in December, a bilateral face-to-face meeting with Trump doesn’t look probable in the near term, even though there are a range of tensions in the Mexico-U.S. relationship, including ones related to security and trade.
The U.S. government announced last month that it had declined to renew the USMCA free trade pact “in its current form” and is currently discussing various trade issues with Mexican officials, including Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Mexico is seeking the reduction — or ideally the elimination — of tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on various Mexican products last year, including steel, aluminum and vehicles.
Sheinbaum touts ‘good economic news’
Sheinbaum told reporters that her team had prepared a “mini-presentation of several pieces of good economic news.”
Among the various economic indicators she presented were:
During her economic presentation, the president also railed against past governments — i.e., those in office before Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president in late 2018.
“They said that if the minimum wage went up there would be inflation; that if the minimum wage went up there wouldn’t be investment; that if the minimum wage went up, the peso would depreciate,” she said.
“In reality, they didn’t want to increase workers’ wages in order to benefit a few [business owners],” Sheinbaum said.
“That’s the truth. Past governments never thought about the people, the workers,” she said.
“It turns out that the minimum wage went up from 2018 to now by 154% in real terms … and we have record foreign direct investment, we have a strong, solid peso and, in addition, there isn’t [high] inflation,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate in the first half of August was 3.26%, up slightly from a 3.12% reading in July.
Sheinbaum considering attending G20 Summit in Miami
Sheinbaum noted that she was invited to the 2026 G20 Summit, which will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami resort on Dec. 14 and 15.
“It’s in the United States and we’re making the decision about whether to go or not,” she said.
“Mexico has to be present, and President Trump decided to hold the meeting in Miami,” Sheinbaum said.
“In principle, we should go to represent Mexico,” she said before telling reporters that she would make a final decision regarding her attendance closer to the date of the G20 Summit.
In earlier remarks, Sheinbaum said she would attend a bilateral meeting with Trump “when we reach an agreement,” presumably on trade.
“… We talk a lot,” she added.
🔴 La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum indicó que ha tenido 21 llamadas telefónicas con Donald Trump y, cuando sea oportuno, se buscará una reunión presencialhttps://t.co/SL4Fj2OvGh
Sheinbaum rejects collaboration between Mexican officials and US authorities on criminal investigations
A reporter asked the president her view about collaboration between Mexican officials and U.S. authorities on criminal investigations in the United States pertaining to offenses allegedly committed in Mexico.
“What is your position, president, regarding Mexican officials or politicians seeking to collaborate with investigative authorities in the United States or another country for their own benefit?” the reporter asked.
“I don’t agree with that,” Sheinbaum responded. “There are national institutes for that.”
Asked whether a Mexican official’s cooperation with U.S. authorities on a criminal investigation amounted to treason, Sheinbaum responded: “It depends on the circumstances.”
The Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. (credit: Andriy Blokhin / Shutterstock)
Amigos, starting in September, I am leaving Mexico City for Washington, D.C. I’m going to work at the Mexican Embassy’s (Embamex) Mexican Cultural Institute, which means that as of next week, I will become a public servant.
To be honest, it’s not something I ever could’ve imagined doing. As my life began to take shape, I decided I would pursue art, culture and creating things that people could enjoy. Politics and government were distant spheres that, in my head, belonged to people like my sister and my fiancé, who studied political science and public administration.
If someone had told me five years ago that I would end up working for the Mexican government, I would have laughed very hard.
So, before we go any further, I’m telling you first, because you should know where I stand when you read my work.
Puyol and María in an empty apartment, definitely not ready for the next chapter of their lives. (Credit: María Meléndez)
Why I write the way I write
Now for a confession that brings clarity to the rest of this.
I don’t like talking about politics with friends or family because it always ends in a terrible row. In each of those discussions, somebody invariably says “I saw it on [blank] news channel,” or “I read it in [such-and-such] paper.”
From that point on, nobody is listening to the discussion anymore. We’re all just weighing what we think of the outlet.
That is how media works, and I don’t much like it.
While I was studying for a journalism degree – a degree I never ended up obtaining – one of my professors, Enrique Mandujano, repeated the same mantra every class: “You are not the readers’ mother. It is not your job to tell readers what to think. Just lay out the facts, in order, and let each reader do what they want with the information.”
On days when a significant national story broke, he would buy a newspaper from every outlet and ask us to identify how they were steering public opinion, from loaded adjectives to a seemingly arbitrary selection of which facts made the cut.
It’s thanks to Mandujano that I can spot the moment a news outlet or particular journalist dresses up a political position as absolute truth. Beyond the fact that I don’t think that’s journalism, it doesn’t strike me as ethical.
I have deliberately avoided, to the best of my ability, pointing at, judging or grading this country’s public figures — not because I lack opinions, but because handing them to you was never my intent.
Which is why I love writing for Mexico News Daily. It gives me the opportunity to promote Mexican culture through columns like “Taste of Mexico” and “Made in Mexico,” while also trying to give you a balanced view of other subjects that matter here, because I’m convinced that the more information you have, and the less spin, the easier it is to take part in the conversation and get involved with Mexican communities.
Embamex and the institute
My job here at MND isn’t going anywhere. But I’m taking on a new responsibility inside the most important international relationship Mexico has.
And my work at the embassy — specifically, its Mexican Cultural Institute — is a continuation of what I’ve been doing here: making visible the cultural ties that bind our communities on both sides of the border, always in the hope of strengthening them.
A portion of the mural Diego Rivera painted for the Ford assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan. (Credit: Laiotz/Shutterstock)
That’s the job: Getting Mexican culture in front of as many U.S. eyes as possible.
In future columns, we’ll navigate our shared history and investigate how the two cultures have shaped each other. For now, however, a hint of what’s to come.
Going north
We call work chamba. My favorite retelling of the story suggests it comes from the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, which ran a job board. Essentially, people went looking for work at “the Chamber,” which then became chamba. The Real Academia Española (RAE) says it comes from old Portuguese. So the etymology is almost certainly against me, but I’m keeping the story anyway.
It’s not just chamba either.
Without the cattle tradition we inherited from colonial times, John Wayne would have looked very different. The rope, the saddle, the wide brim, the vocabulary — buckaroo is vaquero, lariat is la reata, mustang is mesteño, hoosegow is juzgado. The most American figure in the world is, in a way, speaking Spanish.
Meanwhile, the economic need of Mexican artists during the early 20th century resulted in Mexican murals scattered across the United States. Diego Rivera painted Ford’s assembly line in Detroit in 1932, paid for by Edsel Ford himself.
And they say that if Santa Anna hadn’t taken chicle to the United States, Thomas Adams could never have built the chewing gum empire he built.
Going the other way
The United States’ cultural dominance over the past century is unmistakable, evidenced by our love of baseball and the fact that our Golden Age of cinema was partly financed with American money during the Second World War.
A good number of the Mexican writers I admire spent time in the United States and came back devoted to Beat authors such as Alan Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, as well as poet T.S. Eliot. If you read closely, you can see exactly where those influences sit.
It also shows up in me. As a girl born post-NAFTA, I could often be found dressed head-to-toe in Limited Too and Nikes, spending my afternoons watching MTV and singing an entire Britney Spears or Red Hot Chili Peppers album with the same devotion I bring to a ranchera. Not to mention the Ella Fitzgerald, Carole King, Chicago, Glenn Miller, and Chet Baker that echoed throughout my home and that of my grandparents.
Yes, I was clearly an urban kid, with a household economy that allowed the occasional trip north.
And now that I’ve confessed to part of my very fresa upbringing — that’s our word for a certain kind of privileged Mexican childhood — I’ll confess the rest.
I am approaching my new role with new eyes and more information, and with full awareness that on both sides of the border these exchanges come from a place we rarely talk about: a person moving away from where they were born.
Those of us who move often do it because we’re looking to improve something. Maybe a career, maybe studies, maybe a financial situation, or safety, or chasing the love of your life.
But I’m convinced nobody leaves home because they are entirely happy in it.
Polaroids from María’s despedida — the accumulated affection of a lot of people. The most moving one, without question, is the one that came out entirely black. (Credit: María Meléndez)
And I should acknowledge that my route out is one of privilege and ease — a stamped visa and the support of the enormous community Embamex represents.
There are millions who cannot tell the same story, and out of respect for them I intend to work relentlessly toward a society that is more empathetic and more collaborative than the one I found.
That, in the end, is what the institute is for, and I’ll have more to say about it here.
These past weeks, everything I love has been very loud: my country, my culture, my family, my food, my friends, my street, my doormen, the morning walks with my dog that turn into an hour of gossip with the neighborhood.
Even the truck that rolls past shouting “se cooooompran colchooooones, tambores, refrigeradores” — the one I have hated this entire time but will apparently miss.
Leaving all of it here, on this side of the border, I find myself asking the question I want to ask those of you who were brave enough to go looking for something better: What did it take to feel at home again?
I always get a small thrill from seeing your names in the comments. Tell me there.
María Meléndez is a writer and art historian. She works at the Mexican Cultural Institute of the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C. Her columns for Mexico News Daily are written in a personal capacity and do not represent the Embassy.
For families considering a move to Mexico, understanding what that experience is like for their children is just as important as understanding it for themselves, writes expat kid and MND intern Zella Golden. (Unsplash)
If you’re a regular Mexico News Daily reader, there’s a good chance you’ve considered moving to Mexico, already have or know someone who is living there. If that’s the case, you’ve probably read countless articles about what life is like as an expat. But one perspective that is rarely talked about is what it’s like, as a kid, to grow up as one.
San Miguel de Allende is known for its large international community. According to the flight deal scanning platform Going, around 10% of the city’s population is foreign. The available resources for the expat-curious often focus on what it’s like to move to SMA, retire there or build a life in Mexico as an adult. What often gets overlooked is the experience of the children in those families. Growing up between two cultures comes with its own challenges, benefits and questions of identity, yet these perspectives are rarely part of the conversation.
Some families even wait until their children have grown up before making the move, believing Mexico isn’t the right place to raise kids. But is that assumption fair?
For families considering a move to Mexico, understanding what that experience is like for their children is just as important as understanding it for themselves. The best way to do that is by hearing directly from those who grew up as immigrant children.
With that in mind, I interviewed one of my closest friends, a former classmate and my twin brother. We all grew up in Mexico, but our experiences as expat kids were far from the same.
Isabella Mena
My close friend, Isabella Mena, has had a much different experience than mine. Mena has Ecuadorian and Venezuelan roots and spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles before moving to Mexico during the pandemic.
Isabella Mena
Mena was 11 when her father was offered a job in Querétaro. With the pandemic worsening the already high cost of living in Los Angeles, her family decided to move approximately six years ago. She never got to say goodbye to her friends properly and she attended online school, making her first year in Querétaro unimaginably isolating.
Everything changed when her family met a group of foreign kids in San Miguel de Allende. They quickly fell in love with the city’s vibrant international community and the beautiful colonial architecture. This prompted them to move there.
One of the biggest differences between Mena’s life in the U.S. and in Mexico is the pace. In Los Angeles, she commuted up to two hours to school and rarely saw friends outside of class. In Mexico, her social life flourished.
“Here, everything is slower,” Mena said. “Everyone is just enjoying life.”
She believes San Miguel’s community has made her more social and outgoing than she would have been if she had stayed in the United States.
But her experience hasn’t been entirely positive. She recalls a time shopping in Querétaro, when a store manager heard her father’s Venezuelan accent and told him he wasn’t welcome in Mexico and should return to his country. Mena described it as a heartbreaking experience her family will never forget.
Growing up across cultures has complicated a simple question: Where is she from? Four countries represent her. Born in the United States to a Venezuelan father and Ecuadorian mother, Mena feels guilty when she simply tells people she’s American because it leaves out important parts of her identity. And now, she’ll have to explain how Mexico is part of her too.
As college approaches, Mena expressed concern that graduating from a Mexican high school could complicate her U.S. college and scholarship options. So she has decided to complete her senior year through an online school based in Los Angeles. She hopes to attend university in the U.S. or perhaps add another country to the collection by studying in Spain or Italy.
Sadly, that means leaving behind the friends and community she found here. But she doesn’t expect it to be goodbye forever. Mena hopes to travel and experience other parts of the world before potentially returning to Mexico later in life, maybe even to raise a family.
“I think this is a wonderful place to raise kids,” Mena said. “Life is for enjoying, not just surviving.”
Tristan Jackson
My former classmate, Tristan Jackson, was born in Maryland, but doesn’t fully recall living there. His parents first discovered San Miguel while backpacking through Latin America and originally viewed the city as a place to retire. After Jackson was born, they decided not to wait.
Tristan Jackson
Jackson was four when his family moved to San Miguel, where he would go on to spend his entire childhood.
Throughout his time in San Miguel, he told people he was originally from the United States. Occasionally, he felt like the odd one out, so saying he was American seemed like the easiest answer. But upon leaving Mexico, his response became more complicated.
“I couldn’t really talk about the U.S. at all,” Jackson realized. After spending his childhood there, Mexico was actually the place he knew best.
That became even clearer when he transferred to a school in Washington for his senior year of high school. While Jackson tried to pass as American, peers assumed he was Mexican after hearing that he grew up there. Ironically, Jackson felt more connected to his classmates in Mexico than to his American ones.
Even traditions he grew up experiencing reflect the same divide. While his family celebrates Thanksgiving and an American Christmas, Jackson viewed the Fourth of July as a celebration for a country that didn’t even feel like his own. Día de los Muertos, on the other hand, became a tradition he genuinely connected with and looked forward to celebrating.
“If I had to say which one is more meaningful to me, Día de los Muertos or Fourth of July, I would definitely pick Día de los Muertos,” Jackson said.
Growing up abroad also gave Jackson a stronger sense of comfort with the unfamiliar. Having already learned he could belong somewhere other than the country he was born in, traveling somewhere new didn’t feel foreign, especially when he could speak both Spanish and English.
However, belonging anywhere comes at a price; having a fixed “home” becomes complicated.
“I don’t really feel specifically at home anywhere,” Jackson said. Then again, he doesn’t necessarily consider that a bad thing. Instead of fitting completely into one place, he’s capable of fitting into many.
If you’re concerned that raising your child in Mexico could limit them academically, Jackson’s experience may put you at ease. He used to worry that he wasn’t getting the same education he would have in the U.S., but after attending high school in both countries, those fears proved unfounded. He felt perfectly caught up with his classmates in Washington.
The most prominent difference was the college application process. His teachers in Mexico wrote fewer U.S. college recommendation letters so that they could give him a more personal, unique endorsement than teachers juggling dozens of students. He felt like having unique experiences during his upbringing in Mexico also helped him stand out from other applicants.
It worked out pretty well: Jackson will attend Princeton University this fall. Talk about a great data point.
Jackson believes the biggest mistake foreign parents can make when moving to Mexico is staying within an American bubble. Surrounding yourself with the familiar can limit growth and opportunities, the very things parents may fear their children will lose by moving abroad. Jackson believes families should send their children to local schools, meet people in the community and embrace where they are living.
“If you’re gonna do it, do it,” Jackson said.
Lazar Golden
Thankfully, I only had to walk across the hall for this next profile.
Lazar Golden
My twin brother, Lazar Golden, was only six months old when our family packed up our cramped Manhattan apartment and moved into a beautiful family residence in San Miguel de Allende. And just like me, he would go on to spend the next 15 years calling Mexico home.
When asked where he is from, Golden immediately thinks of San Miguel. He considers himself both Mexican and American: American by nationality, but Mexican in culture and customs.
“The way I was raised, the friends I met and the way their families took me in gave me a connection to Mexican culture that’s reflected in who I am,” Golden said.
For Golden, soccer provided a real sense of community. It gave him his closest friends and taught him how to work through challenges with utter determination.
But after moving to the United States, Golden noticed differences in how sports are played. Soccer in the U.S., he says, is faster, more physical and more competitive. In Mexico, it’s more technical and focused more on having fun.
The greater difference was access. In the United States, Golden found better-maintained fields, equipment and facilities, as well as easier access to a wider variety of sports. In Mexico, where soccer dominates, pursuing a less popular sport can require considerably more effort.
Academically, the transition wasn’t seamless. Golden initially struggled with math and English because some concepts and terminology were taught differently in Mexico. Still, he doesn’t believe those differences outweigh what his Mexican education gave him. Growing up around people from different economic backgrounds has made him more aware of inequality and appreciative of the opportunities he has.
More importantly, the community he found in Mexico taught him the concept of generosity. He and his friends would buy pizza or ice cream for children selling things outside stores countless times.
“It’s almost like a family,” Golden said. “Wherever you go, if someone has been nice to you, they’re like family to you.”
So, should parents worry that moving to Mexico will limit their children’s academic or athletic opportunities? Golden’s answer is both yes and no. Certain resources and facilities are undeniably easier to access in the United States, he says, particularly in sports. But access and opportunity aren’t necessarily the same thing.
“If you’re motivated, you can find the people or the place to practice that sport,” Golden said.
But when I asked if he wished our family had stayed in New York, he didn’t hesitate.
“No, I don’t,” Golden said. He credits Mexico, and particularly the people he grew up around, with making him who he is today. “I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t grow up in this place.”
Zella Golden grew up in San Miguel de Allende and is a senior in high school in Marin, California. Golden is completing an internship with MND.
